Reporter

This is the market’s first year offering the online service, which Oglethorpe Fresh President Linda Helmly said she hopes will encourage people to buy and sell locally.

“One of the challenges is the (farmers) out here growing organic and so forth, they can go into Athens or Watkinsville and get more money, so naturally they need to go where the market dictates,” Helmly said. “So what we are trying to figure out is how to make (selling) possible for people who can’t get into Athens.”

Helmly said the locally grown online option has been on her radar for at least two years, but this was the first year she felt the market established enough to take on the venture.

THE FARMERS

Sandi Pavlosky, owner of Little bit of Heaven’s Farm, moved to the Oglethorpe area from Gwinnett County about a year ago. She’s glad to have somewhere to sell her farm’s abundance of crops.

Pavlosky sells a wide variety of vegetables ‑ peppers, eggplant, sweet corn, cabbage, squash, kale, sweet onions, peas, etc. — on Saturdays at the Oglethorpe Fresh Market. She said the benefit to now selling her products online is that it prevents waste.

“With online ordering, you don’t over pick. When you bring produce to a farmer’s market, you pick what you have and then if it’s a bad day and you don’t sell all of it, you’re left trying to figure out how to use it by freezing it or canning it,” said Pavlosky. “(Selling online ensures the produce is) nice and fresh for the customer. ... It’s a great thing and once it catches on, I think people will see that.”

HOW IT WORKS

Customers place their orders Sunday through Tuesday and then pick-up orders at Oglethorpe Fresh on 4-7 p.m. Wednesdays.

“We want to put what’s being grown into people’s hands and try to bring them into Lexington to revitalize the town,” said Helmly. “I think we can grow in a lot of directions.”

THE MARKET

The market, which has found its permanent home in the old Shackleford Pecan Cracker building, is open to the public on Saturdays and offers an array of produce, farm-fresh eggs, meats, herbs and other food items.

It has continued to expand since its inception five years ago.

On many Saturdays the market resembles a festival, with local crafts, food and live music available.

With that growth, the step to move online seemed like a natural one to Helmly.

“I’ve tried to look at it from the umbrella of heritage; what people have always expected growing up here in Lexington,” Helmly said. “Things like offering fresh local honey and hair cuts. It’s been tough because of the economy, but the market is still revitalizing and we try to grow what appeals to the local market.”

She said she hopes to eventually incorporate a more festive atmosphere for Wednesday pick-ups. But for now, the small market is still trying to get its bearings when it comes to online orders.

SUCCESS

In the inaugural week of the online market, more than 20 orders were placed to at least a dozen farmers.

Since then, Pavlosky said her orders have nearly quadrupled.

Helmly said participating farmers are seeing that kind of reaction from customers across the board.

“It seems to be growing at the rate you would want it to,” she said. “And we added a few more growers, too.”

Oglethorpe County Chamber of Commerce President and Economic Development Director Cary Fordyce said the grassroots effort to create a market for local growers helps expand the county’s identity.

“One of the ways this helps the county is it furthers one of the industries that we have identified as being important to the county, which is agricultural tourism and the accompanying small farms,” Fordyce said. “It ties into a brand that will be coming later this year about Oglethorpe County. So, it’s a great way to tie together not only what Oglethorpe Fresh is doing, but also with the branding of Oglethorpe County.”

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